Blog Tour: Soldier by Julia Kagawa
We are delighted to host the latest stop on the blog tour for ‘s Soldier. Today she shares how a visit to London informed the setting of Soldier.
The thrilling next story in the The Talon Saga, the incredible new YA fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Julie Kagawa.
When forced to choose between the sinister Talon organisation and being hunted by her own kind, dragon-human hybrid Ember fled. Even if it meant losing Garret, the dragon-slaying soldier she shares a deep bond with.
Now Garret has uncovered secrets that will shake the foundations of dragons and dragon-slayers alike. Can the danger reunite them?
In the spring of 2015, I visited London for the first time. Partly for a vacation, but partly because I knew the next book of the Talon series, Soldier, would prominently feature the city as the birthplace of the ancient Order of St. George. I fell in love with the city and, because I was looking for them, I began seeing the flags and symbols of St. George everywhere.
It was on signs, churches, bridges, and countless flags throughout the city. The red cross on the white shield. The symbol of England’s patron saint, and also the mark of Order of St. George. There was even a St. George’s Day that celebrated the famed knight. I was ecstatic. London was the ideal birthplace for the Order of St. George; everything fit together perfectly.
I returned home and eagerly began writing Soldier, knowing that Garret would soon walk the same streets I did, see the same sights. He would pass Big Ben, the Thames River, and the London Eye. He would be in the same neighborhoods, and notice the many symbols of the Order, just like me. It was a faintly surreal feeling, the knowledge that this character would soon follow my footsteps into the heart of a very real city, where an ancient order of knights might very well have lived for hundreds of years.
Though perhaps his first impressions were not quite as excited as mine…
‘I had arrived. In London. The Order’s largest and most influential territory. Though I’d been to the city only once, I could be sure of one thing: I would find no dragons here, or in any of the surrounding towns. St. George’s presence in the city was huge and obvious. The Order’s symbol, the red cross on a white shield, was everywhere throughout London, on signs and churches and building walls. Though St. George was the patron saint of England itself, and we shared his flag with the rest of the city, the message to Talon was very clear: no dragons allowed.’
-Garret in Soldier
JULIE KAGAWA was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects and frequent hurricanes. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Fey series, the Talon series and the Immortal Rules trilogy.
